Need some help in application for graduate schools

[coollyboy]

Hi, I'm an international student graduated this February and planning to apply for graduate program this fall.

My interest is in host-pathogen interaction, mainly on virus. I guess programs such as immunology, virology, pathobiology and some programs in microbiology can fit into my favor.

My status is as follows:

                      overall GPA: 3.5/4.0 (major GPA might be a little higher)

                                  GRE: 157/162/3.0 (recently taken test score was 156/167/??, have only one chance left for taking GRE test)

                              TOEFL: 105 (30/27/22/26)

        Research experience: 6 months in immunology lab (undergraduate school)

I know I'm not a strong candidate, but despite other things, the fact that concerns me most is that I did not go through M.S and have only 6 months of research experience. To extend my research experience period, I'm starting a new career at national cancer institute in July. I hope this might be of help since it will extend my career up to a year - though I would not have any publications.

My questions are, given this situation, which graduate school will it be a safety choice? and which graduate school will it be a little tough but have chances? I was trying to make some choices myself and could not figure out how low or how high I should make application.

Really need some help.

Thanks.

Edited June 21, 2015 by coollyboy

[Vene]

The job sounds awesome, congratulations on it. Not having publications shouldn't be a big deal, the important thing is that you have experience doing research and can get good recommendations. I'd actually suggest working there for a year so that you can get a solid recommendation from your supervisor.

 

Your GPA is certainly competitive, although getting into the absolute top universities could be difficult. Same with your GRE scores. They are certainly high enough that you should get make it past any cutoffs.

 

As an international student, private universities are your best bet. I would think you should be able to at least get into a mid-tier program, but the most important thing is to show that you're a good fit through recommendations and your statement of purpose.

 

Also, be confident in your abilities. If you don't believe in yourself why should the admissions committee?

[peachypie]

Hi, I'm an international student graduated this February and planning to apply for graduate program this fall.

My interest is in host-pathogen interaction, mainly on virus. I guess programs such as immunology, virology, pathobiology and some programs in microbiology can fit into my favor.

My status is as follows:

                      overall GPA: 3.5/4.0 (major GPA might be a little higher)

                                  GRE: 157/162/3.0 (recently taken test score was 156/167/??, have only one chance left for taking GRE test)

                              TOEFL: 105 (30/27/22/26)

        Research experience: 6 months in immunology lab (undergraduate school)

I know I'm not a strong candidate, but despite other things, the fact that concerns me most is that I did not go through M.S and have only 6 months of research experience. To extend my research experience period, I'm starting a new career at national cancer institute in July. I hope this might be of help since it will extend my career up to a year - though I would not have any publications.

My questions are, given this situation, which graduate school will it be a safety choice? and which graduate school will it be a little tough but have chances? I was trying to make some choices myself and could not figure out how low or how high I should make application.

Really need some help.

Thanks.

You should always apply since you never know.

My first question to you is, did you graduate from an UG in the US and are hoping to pursue a PhD here or did you graduate from a school in your country of citizenship?  Sometimes it helps to have graduated from a US institution, or at least had some experience there.

If you did, what was the type of school you attended?  Private, public? nationally known?  Nationally known for the degree/speciality you are seeking?  I.e. is your school a well known microbiology school? 

What are some of the schools/programs you are interested in?  it is much easier for us to give feedback when we know you've selected some idea of schools.  Also, you DEFINITELY need to spend time looking into programs to find a good research fit.  this is not like UG, this is less about a number and more about interests aligning and going to a school that aligns well with the research you want.  Who are some fo the professors you'd love to work with?  Where are they located?  Where are people doing research you want to go into yourself, not just viruses but the particular aspect of viral work.

Your GRE quant/reading are good, your writing could be improved, however if it is not something you think you can do it will have to suffice.  If you are an international student who's first language is not English then a 3.0 may not be looked at with too much scrutiny.  3.0 is mediocre, and may raise some flags for a native engllish speaker trying to get into sciences where you have to write grants, read a lot, and write publications.

Your lack of an MS is not an issue, most people in a PhD program in the sciences do not have an MS.  It does happen, but it is infrequent.  All of my cohort have a BS.  Some took time off and worked, others are direct from UG but no one has an MS.

It is also ok not to have publications, most applicants don't.  It is awesome if you do.

Can I ask why you are not staying in the immunology lab when your interest is in viruses, and host pathogen interactions?  To me, you'll get more relevant work experience there as well as have more time to work on a project.  Starting a new job in July and having to write most of yoru SOPs by December will mean a very short turnaround to say you've accomplished a lot in your new research. 

Again, since PhD programs are about fit a lot, I can't comment on to what is your safety or non-safety school.  This is not a numbers game, this is fit.  Some school's wont interview/offer students they know will go somewhere else because they have such a strong application that it will take the space of a legitimate candidte that they may get.  They spend money interviewing so they want to select who they most think will succeed but also attend.  So even a safety school cannot be looked at as a backup.  Just because you get into Harvard or Yale would not mean that any school with a lesser ranking would admit you. 

I really dislike the idea of a safety school in PhD programs, you need to do your research and find a good fit more than anything.  Treating it like an UG application may work for some, but its in my opinion, a bad way of looking at your upcoming application season. 

If you'd like to list some of your potential schools, I as well as many others here would love to give you feedback.

Best of luck!

[coollyboy]

//Latte Macchiato// Thank you for your advice. It made me feel better

//Mocha// Thank you for so eagerly and honestly replying to my question

Well, for answering questions you've asked, I have graduated private UG outside of US, nationally well known in my country(I have my doubts that it will be familiar in US) and no I do not have experience in any US institute. As I have stated earlier, my interest is mainly in virology(host-viral interaction), especially related to HSV(I am just curious about mechanism of it and how it has so greatly adapted as a parasite, and its almost ubiquitous presence among human). However, although I agree that it might be good to have specific area of interest, it could be somewhat broad in range at this stage.

I went to immunology lab at first because the only one professor studying virus was in her sabbatical year and I thought it would be helpful to gain knowledge and experience in lab work elsewhere, since I had no idea what was going around in research lab. The reason I came out of the lab was my interest did not seem to fit in immunology as much as I expected and the very reason that I still am interested in studying virus. Also, I made up my mind to try out for studying abroad, to US - a little after coming out of the lab.

And yes, lack of time to do any quality research, that is what bothers me the most.

I say safety school, but I know myself that there are no 'safety' schools in graduate level, only that chances of admission can be somewhat higher and the outcome cannot be determined.

I have done some web searching and found one of the professors in UIUC was doing research related to my interest. I plan to apply for it and several other graduate schools. Following are the lists of graduate schools I intend to apply, though it might change over time.

Baylor college of medicine, Brown, Northwestern, Indiana Bloomington, Dartmouth college, Rice, U of Florida, U of Utah, Purdue - West Lafayette, U of Maryland, WUSTL and Tufts.

I appreciate any kind of comments. Thanks.

[neuropanic]

I would say apply to more private schools and fewer public schools than you listed.

[virus guy]

I have a similar interest in virology, especially with viruses that can stay latent in cells. I'm a little confused about why you left the immunology lab when one of your interests is host pathogen interactions. Did you not like the PI, or did you just not like the research they were doing? I currently work in a host pathogen interaction lab and half the papers I read are Immunology based. I'm just saying that if you really want to work in host pathogen interactions you need to love both virology and immunology. For virology I would also look at Drexel in Philadelphia, virology heavy (HIV, Hepatitus, etc...)

[coollyboy]

//neuropanic// I hadn't expected that. I thought I revised it and put more private than public schools. Thanks anyway. I'll consider it.

//virus guy// Well, I never said I don't like immunology, just that I was not as much attracted to it as I was at the beginning. After six months in the lab, I was a bit worried about my undergraduate gpa(couldn't keep up good work due to load of chores in the lab). Also, a graduate student who was in charge of teaching me - or advise me - about research and experiment became heavily occupied on getting valuable experimental data for journal publication that as a result, I was left alone doing nothing except some chores such as cleaning mouse cages and making agarose gel. In addition, I was not in part of any project or assignment. I guess this is one of my excuse, but at that time, I was heavily exhausted and frustrated.

Anyway, Thank you for suggestion. Just wondering, do you mean biomedical science or biological science program at Drexel?

[virus guy]

I was just emphasizing the importance of enjoying the subject that you want to do research in. But I totally understand if you wanted to leave an environment that you weren't happy in. For Drexel the Biomedical science program is very focused on Virology.

[Dedi]

While I agree that the score indicates mediocre writing, the GRE writing score really doesn't mean anything substantial. It pretty much means you can BS (they don't fact check your "sources". You can make stuff up just to make words) your way and ramble (which is what the sciences DO NOT want). I've written two small grants (one I did win--the other I'm sure I had a good shot at but there were some underlying circumstances), written two manuscripts (still under review), written numerous abstracts for conferences (all of them have been acceptable) and got a 3.0 GRE writing score as a native English speaker. The personal statement/letter of intent will say more about your writing style than some arbitrary number.

 

Rant done.

 

3.0 is mediocre, and may raise some flags for a native engllish speaker trying to get into sciences where you have to write grants, read a lot, and write publications.

[peachypie]

 

While I agree that the score indicates mediocre writing, the GRE writing score really doesn't mean anything substantial. It pretty much means you can BS (they don't fact check your "sources". You can make stuff up just to make words) your way and ramble (which is what the sciences DO NOT want). I've written two small grants (one I did win--the other I'm sure I had a good shot at but there were some underlying circumstances), written two manuscripts (still under review), written numerous abstracts for conferences (all of them have been acceptable) and got a 3.0 GRE writing score as a native English speaker. The personal statement/letter of intent will say more about your writing style than some arbitrary number.

 

Rant done.

 

3.0 is mediocre, and may raise some flags for a native engllish speaker trying to get into sciences where you have to write grants, read a lot, and write publications.

 

Dedi,

I do agree that one person's score doesn't mean anything, thus also why I said MAY raise some flags.  It by no means, would mean that you are going to struggle or it will cause to you to be a disadvantage.  I wanted to note that the scores were good and that the only one that I would care to imrpove upon would be the writing one, and even then I said if you don't think you can raise it then the scores are fine as is.  I still stand by that 3.0 is mediocre, by the actual grade itself it is considered to be 15th percentile per the GRE ETS website.  That means that only 15 people score lower than a 3.0.  If you want to stand out, and you often do in applications especially when facing the increased hurdle of international students often do, the 3.0 would be something you would consider to try to improve upon. 

[Vene]

I honestly don't think that the AW score means anything in biology. It really should be your lowest priority as the type of writing the AW section tests is not at all the type of writing done in science.